Whitetail Snow Report
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So short of some nice fluffy powder, I'm hard pressed to come up with better snow. Light, dry, very little ice and even less hard-scrap than normal. Loosened packed powder coated most runs, on top of firm packed powder. Exhibition has bumps, milder than BD which was unfortunately flattened. I have to say I have never skied down the thing without bumps so that was interesting! Actually here's a run I'd really like to just bomb, but I do not like how it funnels at the end & there's no real run out. it's really better with bumps! The crowds were manageable overall but longer lines starting kicking in around noon. By 3pm, the lines at the front quad stretched back down the hill a bit. That was nearing my last run and it probably took me 10+ (20?) minutes to get through, and I was in the single line at that point. The black side lines also curled around a bit and took several minutes to get through. Exhibition ended the day for me but I thought the moguls were a nice addition -- I wish they'd leave at least 1/3 of that trail bumped up all the time! So it was crowded but I though that for rest of the day most of the lines seemed to be a very manageable 5 min (either that or I've been well conditioned!)
In short, I'd go again tomorrow if I were able! Ah, and lest I forget, brilliant blue skies all day!!!
Exhibition sucked! (And I was raving about Bold Decision last Sunday.) Whitetail needs to hire some skiers and boarders who actually know how to turn so that semi-adequate bumps are formed. (Note: I seriously doubt any DCSki posters fall into the don't know how to turn category.) Exhibition didn't have bumps, it was mostly a series of ridges, some extending up to twenty feet down the hill. I have no idea what sort of turns/skids/slides/falls could cause those shapes. Made it very difficult to get any sort of turn flow. I'd hate to have to learn to ski moguls on terrain like that.
Bold Decision is a lot steeper than Exhibition, and the bumps are always better formed. Better sliders = better bumps.
Bold Decision was not bumped up as of late Sunday. Looked like the groomers had removed those fun drop-offs.
[This message has been edited by JohnL (edited 02-02-2004).]
Anyway, on Saturday the line got as far back as the snow gun in the main lodge area and then slightly crested the hill their towards the lodge. I was in the singles line at this point and it took quite some time to get through to the lift. And yet, I have either been thoroughly conditioned to think nothing of this or it just didn't really take that long to get through it, as I did not feel that I spent that much time in the line. However, I only went through the line like this ONCE before going over to the black side, and then home.
As for Exhibition -- on Saturday it had some nice bumps on top, then a little gap, then some more nice bumps before the drop off, then a little gap, then some more down to the bottom. Under the lift the trail was not bumped up at all. I noticed some of those long ridges forming also and tried to ski through them and cut turns where (i thought) they should be but probably with little real effect. But It did seem like many people were enjoying themselves and giving the moguls a shot. As such I'd like to see them being more of a regular feature on Exhibition. Having said that I didn't see really anyone who seemed to really know what they were doing compared to the sort of skiing you might find on BD when it is in full bloom. Well perhaps by Sunday the primo snow was kaput. It seems likely that the weather, while remaining relatively cold overall, will yield to more variable weather patterns and the snow will get progressively less than primo... ;-(
Anyway, I think the guy you might be referring to had tight reddish pants? He just went up and down the thing. I was in the area 3 seperate times at least and he was always there going up and down the the run.
I think the longer ridges form when folks make longer sweeping turns (or slides). This pushes the snow up in one direction. With better skiers you are likely to have more turns in a given area to control speed which will make the ridge forming less likely.
But with lesser abilities you get sections of a run where a lot of people check their speed using a big slide turn and the snow will push up into a ridge in one direction.
AT LEAST that's MY THEORY and I'm stickin' to it!!!
:-)
Boarding through moguls is definitely a challenge.
There's some good video of a snowboarder carving through moguls on the last part of this video. I haven't seen anyone actually go through moguls like that around here.
http://www.pureboarding.com/movies/pbmovie_dsl.wmv
Warning- video has some good carving shots, but it's to the tune of cheezy 80's glam rock. I guess that music is still popular in Europe. :-)
-Warren-
I just saw that part of the video where the guy rips up the moguls. Ok, so i don't do it anywhere near as smooth as that but like i said, hardly anyone around here, ski or board, can. I'm all for the intermediate bump runs some people mentioned earlier. They would probably be much easier on a boarder and would give you a chance to learn the technique without hucking yourself down an aggro crag or something like that (i tried).
Moguls are definitely awkward for the skier, especially if you have grown up and are used to relatively even groomed terrain. It takes some adjustment to ski even in thicker slushier snow, and also a few inches deep of softer powder.
Moguls require good balance, agility and using the skis together.
It seems to me that better technique makes all of the above easier.
For borders, I mostly see them sliding over the tops of moguls which sortof defeats the whole idea behind them...
BUT then again I have been known to do the same on skis...
So, that's not a cut on borders, just an observation that more technique is better in that limited sense of skiing or bording moguls better.
The reason most boarders you see just slide over them is probably because its their first time. Judging by my first experience, I doubt most people ever try the second time. I was lucky in that the second time I tried was at Snowshoe with Powder moguls on both Knott Bumper and Shay. I probably wouldn't have even tried them if it wasn't ideal conditions. That allowed me to learn how to link turns in them. Has anyone ever seen someone try moguls in those short ski blades? It looks like a piece of cake. Just looks like jumping down the stairs when you were a kid.
If potentially boarding is better in deep powder, it does seem that skis are better for the mogs.
The high speed quad is probably none too happy with ice accretion on it's gears, either.
???
I am leaving at 3pm ...
-Warren-
a full report coming tomorrow I hope!
How was WT?
-Warren-
